Enforced disappearances in Pakistan: Baloch Voice Association urges UN body to appoint rapporteur

"I urge this body to appoint a special rapporteur on the issue of enforced disappearances in Balochistan" Senior Baloch Human Rights defender Waja Ali Arjemandi in a statement asked the UN body on Monday.

The representatives of BVA also expressed their thanks to the UN for inviting them to United Nations in Geneva.

"I am also thankful to this body and her office holders to be conterminously with us in the search of Ehsan Arjemandi and other victims of enforced disappearances," Waja Ali Arjemandi said.

In his statement, the Baloch representative said that his brother Ehsan Arjemandi was kidnapped by Pakistani security forces on August 9, 2009 and was released on August 29, 2021.

"The situation in Balochistan is alarming. Every day we are getting news about cases of enforced disappearances. The process of registering a case with the UN body for them is very difficult due to many factors," the representative further said.

The representatives of BVA said that there are reports that Pakistani forces have threatened and disappeared family members of the victims for raising voices over enforced disappearances.

UN Working body Vice President said: "We are looking towards Ehsan Arjemandi to help us to trace the other victims of enforced disappearances. The Secretary-General of the body thanked Ehsan Arjemandi for his commitment to fight against enforced disappearances."

Munir Munir, the President of Baloch Voice Association, said that even in a verdict the Pakistani supreme court has said that the "commission has failed to solve the issue of enforced disappearances".

Enforced disappearances are used as a tool by Pakistani authorities to terrorize people who question the all-powerful army establishment of the country, or seek individual or social rights. Cases of enforced disappearances have been majorly recorded in the Balochistan and the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa provinces of the country which host active separatist movements.

A recent report unveiled by the US revealed that over 8000 people were missing in the country during 2021 including 1,200 missing in Sindh province in the last six months. (ANI)